Chapter 9 Reflections

As always no moneys only likes and comments to pay me... slowly working on getting things updated and posted. My wedding last saturday has taken almost all of my focus, so I am slowly getting back into the saddle, so to speak. Much Love, Stay Happy, Healthy, and Safe, or if you can't manage that try for staying sane.

Hermione set the tray of tea down and fixed both older women their tea, serving it before she did something that she could not take back. She could hear the Professors voice, even though she did not speak, and she knew that her mother wanted something a bit stronger than tea. Hermione was never sure how she always knew things like this, but her mother just smiled and said that she had talents.

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at the tea the child had handed her. She was prepared to fix it herself to get it just right, but the cup that she was handed had been prepared exactly as if she had made it herself. 'I will need to mention this to Severus when I return. If she is a legilimens she will need training. There certainly are other people that could train her, but he has perfected his control without help from a master. I needed to keep this child out of Dumbledore's clutches. She is just the type of pawn that he liked to have at his disposal.'

"I am so sorry you had to find out this way dearest." Helena was also crying; she had never wanted to cause her daughter this pain.

"Hermione, Mimi, I'm sorry, let's sit and talk this through." Minerva tried to be as comforting as she could to the young girl.

The three of them began talking but Helena's mind was somewhere else.

~ooOoo~

It had been late December of seventy-seven that she met the older man. She had just finished with her surgical residency, earlier that year, and her husband, Henry, tried to make demands about her work schedule. He was extremely controlling and believed that since she was now out of school and getting older, she needed to give into his demands and have a baby. Her family had been pressuring her too, and not just about the baby. They hated her choice. Henry was not a nice man. Why they could see it and not her, they had no idea.

It had been three months since that fight had taken her back to her family's estate in Greece. Her time away from the practice, and Henry, gave her some time to think on their relationship. Henry had arrived unannounced at her ancestral home on Christmas morning. Her great uncle, who was still the head of the family at age two-hundred and five, grudgingly let her husband in. It was only charitable. Perhaps this way Helena would leave him finally.

Helena, and Henry fought nonstop through the New Year's holiday. Leonide was ready to hex the man and obliviate him, but as usual Helena stayed his hand. The boy, in Leonide's opinion, was at least not a drunkard, nor physically abusive. But the constant fighting, with short bouts in which the two acted as if their hormones had gotten the better of them, was growing old. Two weeks ago, he had finally had enough and sent the young dentist back to England with the threat that if he continued to anger his niece, he would make sure they never found his body. He had strongly considered following through on this threat even if he didn't continue to enrage his niece.

Henry found this funny coming from an old man. He had kept himself in great shape. 'There was no way this old man could best me even if he did try.' Due to his looks, he enjoyed the attention from female patients with just a smile, or a wink. 'Now if only my wife would follow her vows to honor and obeyme. If she chooses not to, well I could always cut the chit off and divorce her. That would server her right. No, better to humiliate her, I can take a lover or three, or perhaps one for each night of the week. This would serve her right. Then I could continue to skim money out of the joint account into my private one, she never was one to pay attention to the finances.' He gave the old man a smirk and agreed to leave.

~ooOoo~

Helena had been down to the shore when she saw a small fishing boat coming up to the dock to her uncle's home. This wasn't the young man that she remembered her uncle hiring to deliver food from the mainland, and fresh fish. As the dark man walked up the stone path to the house, she left the patio to see if he needed help. He had several wagons of food that he was pulling behind him. "Geia sas pos eisai," she called to the wiry man whose hair kept flopping into his face. "Chreiazeste boetheia?"

"Hn. Sorry miss, my Greek is rusty."

"Oh, you speak English, wonderful." She smiled at him. "Is there anything I can help you with? You seem to have your hands full."

"Nah, I got it, bab. Yer uncle would tan my hide if he knew I was letting ya help me." He gave the young woman a crooked grin. It lit up his dower face like the sun after a storm. Helena though wanted to cringe at the state of his teeth. They were just as crooked as his smile. "Name's Tobias, an I don' work fer yer uncle."

"Oh, I never assumed that." Truthfully, she had but was just too polite to admit it. He was not standardly handsome, but compared to the impressive, if not shallow, good looks that Henry had, Tobias's rugged looks were appealing. "So, English then?"

"Yeh, I'm a Brummie." He seemed quite proud that the Greek beauty was speaking with him. 'Hn, oh Eileen, if only you could see me now. Well at least I'm away from that harpy of a woman.'

~ooOoo~

The two of them had talked late into the night after he had made the rest of his deliveries for the day. Tobias had even promised to take her out on his boat the next day. He uncle, Leonide had given her his approval of the elder British man. 'He may not have seemed like the right sort of man for my Helena, but at least he is making her happy. He is Greek as well, even if he cannot speak a proper language,' and that was a significant point in his favor. 'I can overlook the language barrier for now. There are always was of learning things such as that quickly.' He had offered several times to obliviate Henry for her and let her be with the rugged man instead.

After two weeks of being in the others presence, as their free time permitted, she was beginning to wonder if her uncle was right. She had yet to admit that she had a husband back in London to him. Still, he was also tight lipped about his life back in Cokeworth. Neither wanted to discuss their past and seemed content to just live in the present.

She had discovered a month later that he had a son, who had recently finished his secondary schooling. Tobias said that they did not have a good relationship. Something about his ex-wife, and her family was to blame. He had told her that the relationship with his ex was strained from the beginning. That relationship felt quite different to him compared to the blooming relationship he now had with Helena. Still, he was a squib, and she was a pureblood, so things were never equal in their home, and this was the basis for some of the issues.

He was still very reluctant to share any of the details from his past, and Helena was just as reluctant herself. She had spoken with him about the marital problems that she was having but there were no true specifics. She had found out from him that he had indulged too often in drink, and while not giving it up entirely, he was attempting moderation. In his belief the life of a fisherman was better suited to having a few drinks with the boys before going home. Perhaps it was the flavor of the ouzo, the way the locals drank it, or the rumor of other substances that were contained in the drink, or that Helena would always join him for a drink, in the end it really didn't matter, he just knew that he drunk less.

Two months after they had met, she realized that she was pregnant. This did not go over well with Tobias. "Helena, I've told you I am not a good man. What you choose to do with the child is up to you, but I can't be in your life like that. I… I think you may need to go back to London without me. Just get on with your life."

"Tobias, please."

"I can't bab, Eileen had this same thing happen, and gave me my son. You are young, there will be some lucky man who will love you and take care of you. I know I will not be a good husband to you or father to our child. Heck I wasn't even to her child. I drank too often, and usually too much. We argued even more than you and your Henry. After a while we physically fought each other, that was after I snatched an broke her wand. I'm ashamed to say I took it out on my kid even. I'm tryin ta not be that man anymore but I just can't at this time. I'm sorry bab, I really am, but I'm not gonna put myself in that place again."

Helena simply nodded and walked slowly back to her uncle's home. She was determined to give her child a good life even if they would never know her real father. She headed up to her room, and later, after she finished crying to the point of numbness, she went to see her uncle in his study. "I have to go back."

"What do you mean paidi mou? Go back where?"

"Pappous, Toby and I…" She couldn't think how to explain the finality that Tobias had in his voice when he told her to leave. "Toby and I cannot move forward in our relationship. I…I need to go back to Henry."

The elder man nearly exploded in outrage, "and if I don't want you too?"

"Pappous, he is still my husband. The baby and I will need someone since Toby believes' he cannot be a good man or a good father. He said it was not his responsibility. He made it seem as if I did this to trap him."

"A child? You're pregnant? I will kill that good for nothing English dog. He is not worthy of you. His actions bring dishonor on his mother's family. I will see to it that his own grandmother punishes him for his choice. His own child," Leonide scoffed. This was an outrageous offence. He struggled to keep his magic in check. That he had once approved of the man vanished in the space of a breath. "He will find no welcoming harbor in all of the Peloponnese."

"Pappous, let him be. Do not take away his livelihood, please, if you love me do this for me. He is just scared. He may come around eventually. But for now, get me back to London, and help me explain this to Henry." She was on the verge of tears again. She knew that once they had time and space to think on this, sanity would reign, and hopefully both her uncle and Tobias would come around.

In the end Leonide acquiesced. Tobias stopped bringing fresh fish and groceries. He stayed far away form Lionide, and his niece. He also let Tobias's family know what he had done. The Matriarch of the family was incensed. If Helena would not allow him to punish the young man for her, he would at least see the boy miserable for quite some time. He took her back to London himself, and modified Henry's memories to make him think it was his child. The young woman who was in his bed, he would see was dealt with. The less he told Helena the better. He didn't like keeping secrets from her but she would not agree with his actions.

Helena never forgave herself for going back. Her heart remained in Greece. Her beautiful daughter helped to dull the sting as the years went by, but now she could not let go of her. Not to another magical family. Perhaps she could get one of her cousins to come to London and have him blood adopt her. She would find some way to keep her heart from shattering again.

~ooOoo~

"Helena? Doctor Granger?" Minerva had been speaking with Hermione for over an hour, while Helena just looked out the window.

"Um, yes? Sorry Minerva, I was a million miles away. So, we needed to discuss the new school and living conditions."

"Mum that was an hour ago. The Professor and I have already discussed all of that."

"Oh," her shoulders slumped. "Mimi I am sorry; I knew I should have been paying better attention. Minerva, I think I should talk with my daughter in private. Would it be possible to meet us tomorrow morning? We can take care of whatever will need to happen with the Ministry and Gringotts then."

"Of course, would you like me to give your uncle a floo call for you? He should know what is going on. He may be able to help influence the Ministry in your favor. Helena, if the worst does come to pass, I will do everything in my power to help the two of you."

"Yes, thank you Minerva. That would be a great help. Mimi, can you show the Professor out? I can meet you in your room. I just need to make sure your father has something to eat. We can get changed and go to that Italian place you love. Just the two of us. We should have had this conversation long ago."

Hermione nodded, "Professor McGonagall, let me show you out."

Notes:

Ok, so my Greek is rusty as well. My own Greek uncle is no longer with us for me to make sure that I am saying things correctly so here goes nothing. Thank you Google Translate.

Geia sas pos eisai = Hello, how are you.
Chreiazeste boetheia? = Do you need help?
paidi mou = My child, a term of endearment.
Pappous = Grandfather. I used this one quite a bit growing up as my uncle was quite a bit older than my aunt.

Hope you all enjoyed. Stay safe, much love.